Gift cards and other transactions cards have evolved over time. Some of the changes included the addition of logos, special colors, and designs, while other changes were more functional such as reload functions and use at multiple merchant types within a certain affiliated group (e.g., shopping mall). However, such gift cards are still often impersonal. The gift cards are also typically pre-printed with certain events or notes, so if a particular event or note associated with the card is not available at a certain store, then the purchaser may not purchase the card from that store. Moreover, certain events are less popular, so card companies may not be able to print and maintain a stock of cards associated with all types of event options (e.g., Bar Mitzvahs, Arbor Day, Congratulations on joining the debate team, etc.).
Prior art gift cards also typically included many standard features that other credit cards have included in the past such as, for example, magnetic stripe on the back of the card, embossed numbers on the front of the card and a card identification number. Prior art cards may also have included a signature block on the back of the card. The signature block has always included a very narrow rectangle that was specifically limited to accepting one line of text, namely the signature of the card holder. Prior art systems may have limited the signature panel to the back of the card to avoid the credit card swipe machines (which roll over only the front of the card) from scraping the signature panel, and the more modern POS devices (which require a portion of the card to be slid through a track) from also scraping the signature panel. Moreover, because the signature panel is reserved for a signature, and credit card companies strongly encouraged card holders to immediately sign the signature block, the signature block was never available for inclusion of any other customizable text or graphics.